Former Sydney lawn bowls club land to be handed back to Indigenous owners - 9News

A bowling club in Sydney's lower north shore will be handed back to Indigenous owners, after a New South Wales court upheld an Aboriginal land claim.

The Waverton Bowling Club began using the site in 1967 and was leasing it from Property NSW.

In 2019 the club went into administration, which led the North Sydney Council to lobby the NSW government to hand over the 5000-square-metre block of land for them to manage permanently.

The Waverton Bowling Club began using the site in 1967. Image: Steven Siewert (Nine)

The Waverton Park club was on Crown land but it was able to be used for public recreation.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports the government knocked back two Aboriginal land claims over the site in 2020, on grounds the council was lawfully occupying and using the site, and it was essential for public open space and recreation in the area.

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council launched an appeal against the decision, which led the court to decide the land was "not needed for essential public purpose".

The site of the former Waverton Bowling Club will be returned to Indigenous owners. Photo: Steven Siewert (Nine)

The government's lawyers argued it was needed for recreational purposes and that they had carried out and paid for maintained work on the site.

The Aboriginal Land Council argued there was no evidence the local council had undertaken any work on the site apart from "sporadic mowing".

The club was on crown land but it was able to be used for public recreation. Image: Steven Siewert (Nine)

Justice Sandra Duggan upheld the appeal and said the site was claimable land.

Duggan said she was "unable to be satisfied" the land "was likely to be needed for the essential public purpose of open space for public recreation".

Duggan ordered the government to transfer the site to the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council as freehold land, preferably within six months.

Justice Sandra Duggan upheld the Aboriginal Land Council's appeal. Image: Steven Siewert (Nine)

Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council chief executive Nathan Moran told the Sydney Morning Herald it was the council's first successful claim in North Sydney.

Moran said the land council would seek to understand the previous and permitted uses on the "gobsmackingly beautiful" site, assess its assets and consult the community on potential future uses.

North Sydney councillor Ian Mutton is concerned the ruling means the land will be lost to the community.

According to the National Indigenous Australians Agency, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' rights and interests in land are formally recognised in around 50 per cent of Australia's land mass.

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2022-11-08 09:01:25Z
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